Just two weeks to the day before the 2014 Emmy Awards, Robin Williams died, after working four decades in Hollywood. And at the ceremony on Monday night, Billy Crystal paid special tribute to his longtime friend, sharing stories of their friendship and career together.

“He made us laugh, big time. I spent many happy hours with Robin on stage,” Crystal said, before joking about Williams’ lack of baseball knowledge and how he would pretend to be a Polish immigrant with Crystal’s older Jewish relatives at his family functions. “He could be funny anywhere. We were such great friends… As genius as he was on stage, he was the greatest friend you could ever imagine – supportive, protective, loving. It’s very hard to talk about him in the past because he was present in all of our lives. For almost 40 years, he was the brightest star in the comedy galaxy.”